The Spring of '91
by snowbunny23
Summary: A shocking secret from Grissom and Sara's past is revealed. Will it tear them apart, or bring them closer together?
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI

This story takes place just after season 4 (before the show started getting just plain weird. Did anyone watch King Baby? Ugh!). Reviews will be greatly appreciated!

* * *

_Music pounded out of the large speakers as university students partied the night away on the dance floor. This was where the intense, pressured young adults could let themselves go. It was an unusually warm spring, and most of the students had recently finished their final exams. It was going to be a wild night._

_A skinny brunette stood off to one side, sipping a drink and looking slightly nervous. She spied a man standing in a similar posture. She smiled to herself and walked over to him._

_That was the moment it all started. They would remember that night for the rest of their lives. Every time they felt lost and alone, they would think back to the spring of '91.

* * *

_

Sara Sidle swallowed hard as she walked up to the peaceful, suburban house. _Appearances can be so deceiving, _she thought to herself. The events that had taken place in that house were anything but peaceful.

Sara's boss, Gil Grissom, was kneeling in front of the door, dusting the knob for fingerprints. He was so focused on his work that he didn't even notice when she walked up beside him.

"Uh, hey," Sara said, bending down so that her face was close to his. He looked up, startled.

"Oh, hi Sara," he said, looking up at her. Sara realized how close her face was to his, and there was a tense moment, as they looked one another in the eye. Sara broke their eye contact quickly, straightening up as she cleared her throat.

"So…are the bodies inside?" she enquired.

"Husband and wife, both shot to death. Brass is interviewing the daughter," Grissom said, getting up off his knees. He pointed to a thin, brown-haired teenager sitting in the ambulance with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Her face was bruised and swollen.

"What happened to her?" Sara asked.

"After the guy shot her parents, he raped her," Grissom said, " After she gives Brass a statement, I need you to go with her to the hospital and get an SART kit. Catherine and Nick will be here in a while to help me out." Sara nodded, and proceeded over to the ambulance. Grissom watched her go.

* * *

"_Hey," said the girl, sliding up beside him. The man turned to face the brunette. He was quite a bit older than her, but his face looked shy and innocent. "You've probably never seen me before," the young woman said, "but I was at one of your forensic science lectures a few months ago. You look pretty young for someone with so many qualifications." There was intelligence in the girl's eyes, a burning brightness that the man was attracted to._

"_I'm 31," he said._

"_And what exactly are you doing at a college party?" she asked him._

"_My friend dragged me over here," the man answered, "he says I need more of a social life."_

"_What a coincidence," the girl said, smiling.

* * *

_

Brass was finishing up with the witness as Sara arrived.

"Is there anything else you can tell us?" he asked the girl.

"That's all," she answered. Although her voice was shaky, there was determination in her bright eyes.

"Thank you," said Brass, finishing up his notes and proceeding towards Grissom. Sara stepped forward.

"Hi," she said to the witness, "My name's Sara Sidle and I'm a forensic scientist with the Las Vegas Crime Lab." The girl nodded.

"My name's Amy…Amy Bolton," she said, pushing her hair behind her ears. Sara fought hard to keep from wincing as she noticed the bruises on Amy's shoulders.

"I'm going to have to take you to the hospital," Sara told her, "we need to run some tests." She hated the sound of that. It was as if the girl wasn't a living thing at all, just meaningless evidence. Sara knew she couldn't let this case affect her personally, but the girl looked so young and bright it was hard not to.

* * *

"_I'm not much of a party person," the man was saying, " I'd much rather be with my bugs." The affects of the alcohol had loosened his tongue._

"_Your bugs?" the brunette asked incredulously._

"_I'm an entomologist," he explained, "I study them." She smiled and inched towards him._

"_I've always been interested in bugs. Why don't you take me to see yours?" It sounded like such an innocent suggestion. What neither of them could know was that it would change them for the rest of their lives.

* * *

_

Sara slowly proceeded through the hospital corridor, carrying the SART kit in one hand. She yawned, her tired eyes fighting to stay open. Lately, she'd been having dreams that haunted her and kept her from sleep.

She walked around a corner towards the hospital parking lot and saw Grissom, standing by the doors. She approached him.

"Hey," she said, "What are you doing here?"

"Giving you a ride home," he answered, "It was on my way. Oh, and don't worry about the kit, I'll take it to Greg." Sara smiled slightly as she handed it to him.

"Thanks," she said, surprised by his kindness. He led her out into the parking lot and to his car.

Grissom drove without speaking for the first few minutes. Finally, Sara broke the silence with a startling question.

"Grissom…why did you hire me?" she asked, looking up at him, "I mean, there were so many talented applicants you could have chosen from. Why me?" Grissom looked taken aback by this question, but he recovered quickly.

"You're a very talented scientist, Sara," he told her, "It was only logical to place you at one of the top labs in the country."

"Oh," she said, sounding almost disappointed. It was clearly not the answer she had been hoping for. There was another long silence.

"I've been doing some thinking," Sara said slowly, "and, well…I was wondering if you had any other reasons for hiring me. I was wondering if-" she took a deep breath, "I was wondering if our…history had anything to do with it." He turned and looked sharply at her.

"I thought we'd agreed not to discuss this," Grissom said tersely. He pulled into the parking lot of Sara's apartment and stopped the car. She glanced down at her hands, and then looked up at him.

"Do you ever think about it?" she asked, trying to meet his eyes, "Do you ever wonder what could have been?" Grissom looked away.

"Every day," he whispered.

With one last despondent look in his direction, Sara left the car and walked towards the apartment. As soon as she was sure he couldn't see her, she burst into tears.

* * *

Sara awoke early the next morning, hearing her doorbell ring. She groaned as she got out of bed. She contemplated falling back asleep until the bell rang insistently once more.

"Coming!" she yelled as she pushed her feet into a pair of slippers and slid her housecoat on. She made her way towards the door, unlocked it, and pulled it open. Standing there, to her surprise, was Greg Sanders the DNA lab technician.

"Um…hey Greg," she said sleepily, "what are you doing here so early?"

"Well…look, I'm about to tell you something that's going to really freak you out, okay?" he said, nervously chewing on his lip.

"Uh…okay," said Sara, wondering what this was all about. Greg stepped inside and she closed the door behind him.

"Would you like to sit down?" she asked.

"That's okay," he answered shakily. He was obviously very worked up about something.

"So, uh, what were you going to tell me?" she enquired. Greg took a deep breath.

"I was testing the DNA samples from the Bolton case last night, and, uh, there were some interesting results." Sara nodded, so he continued. "I discovered that Amy's sample didn't match her parents' samples in any way. She must have been adopted. I checked CODIS to see if there were files on people who had a significant number of alleles in common with her." Greg paused.

"Yeah, so what does this have to do with me?"

"Sara…I found a match in CODIS, two matches actually…" he trailed off.

"So, presumably those are the two parents, right?" she asked.

"The thing is…the thing is…" he took a deep breath, "you're the mother." Sara's eyes widened. She slowly sank down onto her couch, holding her head in her hands.

"I mean…it's not a very exact way of testing. I can try again if you want; there's probably been some kind of mistake." He said, sitting down beside her.

"No," Sara said softly, "I'm pretty sure you're right." She sighed. "How am I going to tell the father?"

"You, uh, know who the father is?" asked Greg.

"Yeah," said Sara, feeling an overwhelming sense of dread, "it's Grissom."

* * *

TBC (well…at least if I don't get a lot of work or get bored with it or lazy or something) 


	2. Chapter 2

Hey ppl! I've been kinda bogged down with work lately, so this chapter is a bit short. But I'm totally into this story now, after all the awesome feedback I've been getting. Thank you guys so much! Oh, and the song in italics at the beginning of this chapter is called "She Floats" and it's by Vanessa Carlton. I'm probably gonna use a lot of song lyrics in this story 'cuz music is one of my biggest inspirations for writing.

* * *

Sara stood behind the glass of the interrogation room as she watched the woman from Child Services talk to Amy. The young girl's face was pale and washed out; showing no emotion. It was as if she was a ghost.

_Watching puddles gather rain_

_There's no better place to lay_

_She's as fine as dandelions blowing in the wind_

_She's not thinking about anything..._

_She floats_

_Floats..._

Sara had been in the foster care system. She knew of the misery this girl would have to experience. Child Services would never be able to locate Amy's parents because Sara hadn't even registered the baby with the orphanage, just dropped it off on the front steps. Back then, thinking only of her career, it had seemed like the right thing to do. Now, as she watched Amy's emotionless face, she realized that it was a mistake.

_Wearing black patent mary janes  
_

_She steps out in to the rain  
_

_She's as dry as clear blue skies  
_

_Swallowing you whole  
_

_Got no secrets though I'm told  
_

_She floats_

She remembered the spring of '91, when she had first met Grissom. Those two short months ended so soon. She looked into Amy's dark eyes. It was ironic that such a heartbroken, despairing girl was the result of the most wonderful time of Sara's life.

_She's as fine as dandelions blowing in the wind  
_

_She's not thinking she's listening  
_

_She floats, she floats . . .floats_

Sara knew what she had to do. This was her second chance, the last chance she would ever get to make things right. She took a deep breath and walked through the door to the interrogation room.

"Something's just come up in the evidence," Sara announced as she entered the room, "I need to speak to Amy in private please." The woman from Child Services nodded and left. Amy was motionless, her eyes unmoving. Sara opened her mouth to say something, but the young girl surprised her by speaking first.

"They're never gonna find them, y'know…my real parents. It's not as if they'd ever take me back anyway…they didn't even take the time to register me with the orphanage," she gave a sad little chuckle, "I was just dropped off at the door, like, garbage or something." Sara bit her lip to keep from crying. She felt like a monster.

"I…I think I may have found your mother, Amy," she said slowly, "but she wants to know if you could forgive her…for what she did back then. She's…she's ready to be a good parent now." Amy didn't even seem astonished by this news. She had probably been through so much in the last 24 hours; there was nothing that could surprise her anymore.

"Um…if she's ready to be responsible, then…. I guess I could forgive her," Amy said, tears forming in her eyes. She was finally showing some emotion. There was a long silence as Sara tried to work up the courage to say something to her daughter.

"Amy, look…I don't really know how to say this, but…I'm your mother," she said softly. The girl looked stunned.

"That's…. that's crazy…" Amy trailed off. She suddenly looked angry, "Why did you leave me there? You're not poor or anything! Why didn't you keep me?" she shouted.

"Shh, shhh," Sara said, trying to calm her. She put a hand on the young girl's shoulder, "I was 20 years old when I had you. I was halfway through college." She swallowed hard, "I was just young and stupid. I'm so, so sorry, Amy. I really am." Tears started to trail down Sara's cheeks. The young girl put an arm around her shoulders and patted her on the back.

"It's okay, it's okay…like I said, I forgive you," Amy said, calm once again. After a while she asked, "Do you know who my father is?" Sara nodded slowly. "Well…can I meet him?" Sara shook her head.

"It's, um…it's really complicated right now," she said, "He's…he's actually my boss. I don't know how he'll react to this, because, um…he doesn't know about you yet." Amy nodded.

She hugged Sara around the shoulders and said, "I…I'm just glad I have you…. mom." Sara smiled through her tears as she hugged Amy back.

The mother and her daughter stayed like that for some time, sharing in each other's misery; comforting with silence.

* * *

Unseen to Amy and Sara, another figure was observing their conversation through the one-way glass of the interrogation room. Watching his daughter and her mother embrace, Grissom stood there, stunned.

TBC


End file.
